The Sexuality of “Whimsy”: Gender and Sex in the Films of Wes Anderson

Ryan Reft, of the Tropics of Meta, has written an interesting piece exploring the role of gender and sexuality in the films of Wes Anderson, highlighting that few filmmakers have made being cuckolded seem so adorable and so tragic. Interested? Check it out here. Reft notes:

Anderson’s embrace of Salinger/Charles Schultz/Roald Dahl universe need not exclude adult realities. In a recent backlash against the backlash, NYC Poet Austin Allen argued that critucs have developed a formula for dismissing Anderson’s work. Throw around the word “twee,” “dollhouse” or any derivation thereof, add a bit of “arrested development” and a dash of retromania and instantly you’ve encompassed the rhetorical structure for Anderson film criticism. Yet, as Allen points out, “whimsy” need not mean flimsy. The best moments, he argues, happen when “adult reality snaps us out of childlike fantasy.” Anderson never avoids these problems but with the help of contributing actors and writers, he is able to weave them into the composition with an understanding that exceeds immature visions of marriage and fidelity.